thebearnz

Trying to gauge thoughts on how much I should pursue this.

Mavic Ksyrium ES wheels just under 2 years old (about 5000km's use).

Rear wheel has developed rim cracks at 3 drive side spoke holes.

These wheels have only been trued once by a reputable bike mechanic about 12 months ago (they were only slightly out).

Local New Zealand Mavic agent has refused to warranty them by saying the spoke tension was too high (but would not give me any numbers etc.).

Am I getting a fob off here ? Or should I just try and sell them as damaged wheels?

Regardless, from this experience I have not replaced these with Mavics and won't be recommending Mavics to anyone anytime soon.

Al Downie

Tales abound of cracks like that on Mavics, although most of the stories I read relate to 712/715 rims. I've just had two wheels built up using Mavics which were recommended to me as 'the strongest rims known to man!' by the guy in the local bike shop - EX729s. Awesome - I was quite happy to accept a slight increase in rolling weight to have absolute rock-solid reliability for fully-laden adventure touring on unpaved roads. But when I took delivery, I noticed a tiny sticker on the new rims saying 'Max tyre pressure 55psi'. So now I'm thinking they might not be as strong as I thought, and my confidence is a wee bit reduced. Wish I'd bought something else.

Severian

Did the warranty rep actually check the wheel?

if not i'd say you should call a different rep.

thebearnz

Yup there is only 1 authorized Mavic serviceman in New Zealand and he so happens to work for the only Mavic Agent. He was the guy who said those spokes were overtensioned (according to my LBS who I purchased the wheels off)

So unfortunatly there is no where else to go in NZ

I have had this confirmed via a contact I have in the local bike industry who brings in Specialized bikes OEM with Mavic wheels. Apparently even they have to send any Mavic wheel problems to this guy (but obviouly because of who they are, they tend to have less problems).

HillRider

My experience with Mavic rims, (Open 4CD, Open Pro and CXP33) has been pretty good but there is no acceptable reason for a rim to fail by cracking at 5000 km. If the truing and retensioning was done by your bike shop they should interceed with Mavic for you.

Deserted

If I were in your shoes, I would say yes, absent proof the wheels were grossly overtensioned. I'd question the bike mechanic again, and find out what any information he received from Mavic on tensioning/truing these wheels with their special spokes, and the procedure he used to true the wheels. If nothing is found wanting, I'd re-contact the Mavic agent, and let him know you're well aware of others reporting your same problems with drive-side spoke area rim cracks with the Ksyriums (see: https://www.bikeforums.net/bicycle-mechanics/378442-mavic-ksyrium-es-cracks-rim-spoke-interface.html ; https://www.bikecircle.com/forums/tec...im-cracks.html )

If you don't get a response, I'd tell the agent you're going over his head to Mavic corporate and to anyone else who'll listen if you don't get some satisfaction. If these rims are particularly sensitive to the kind of minor overtensioning that could be expected as a 'worst case' from a trained, knowledgeable bike mechanic truing a wheel, this information should have been supplied with the wheelset.

I wouldn't go that far. You may indeed have a gripe when it comes to Mavic's uber-expensive, low-spoke count wheelsets, but the company does build good, durable rims for everyday use. I'm no lightweight, have been riding Mavic Open Pros 32hf /36h rear, and older series Mavic rims in both mountain and road sizes and never had a problem with a rim. But I build my own wheels, and don't demand ultra-low spoke counts, low rim weight, or exotic components.